AUBURN, Alabama - This could’ve been an uncomfortable evening for Gus Malzahn. It should’ve been, given his personal history.

Instead Malzahn’s new school did what an SEC team is supposed to do to a visitor from the Sun Belt. Auburn never gave Arkansas State a reason to believe.

That privilege now belongs to the Tigers after their surprisingly easy 38-9 victory over the Red Wolves.

Now Auburn has handled a good team from an overmatched league after opening the season by dispatching an overmatched team from a good league. Now the team that hasn’t won a conference game in two years - since Oct. 29, 2011, to be exact - has some hope that it can end that miserable streak.

Now Malzahn and company are one win away from matching Auburn’s victory total from 2012, but here’s where reality starts to set in.

The next win promises to be more difficult to come by than either of the first two. Next week’s visitor, Mississippi State, is no threat to win the SEC West, but neither is Auburn. The Bulldogs are fully capable of putting off Malzahn’s “New Day” for another week.

The measuring stick for the Tigers this season is improvement, and by that standard, they got better Saturday.

With one or two exceptions, quarterback Nick Marshall didn’t try to demonstrate his ability to hit the Pacific Ocean from a Gulf Shores beach. He was still inconsistent, maybe too much so to win a conference game yet, but he also made the kind of plays Auburn will need next week.

That 68-yard touchdown pass to Sammie Coates in the second quarter was a thing of beauty as he hit the speedy receiver in stride with a felt-tipped dart. It may have been the first sign so far that Marshall can throw the ball deep with touch.

The tailback trio of Tre Mason, Corey Grant and Cameron Artis-Payne - combined with Marshall’s speed when he tucks and runs - looked like a relay team at times. Auburn rolled up 301 yards rushing, and if this team’s going to win SEC games, the offense will have to move primarily by land.

The real revelation on this night may have been the defense. The Tigers surrendered 422 yards overall, but without giving up a single touchdown. There were third-down stops and fourth-down stonewalls in the red zone, the very definition of a bend-but-don’t-break Ellis Johnson unit.

Nothing much went right for Arkansas State, starting with the bright idea to wear those dull gray jerseys with the impossible-to-read red numbers. An Arkansas State official said the school had acquired those uniforms last year while Malzahn was head coach but had never worn them.

Bringing those uniforms to Auburn smacked of a little gamesmanship, as if to remind Malzahn of what he was missing after coaching just one year in Jonesboro, but it backfired right away. A new Football Bowl Subdivision rule, the failure to wear contrasting colors, earned the Red Wolves an unsportsmanlike penalty to start both halves.

Arkansas State coach Bryan Harsin said he knew the penalty was coming but decided to have his players wear those uniforms just the same. Let that be a lesson to him. Jerseys don't make the man.

The only time his Red Wolves really threatened to make it a game came after Marshall fumbled the ball away for his first and only turnover in two games in the third quarter. Arkansas State took over at the Auburn 17 with a chance to cut the lead to 21-13, but all the visitors could manage after going backward was another harmless field goal.

After Auburn did nothing but extend the lead in the fourth quarter, Malzahn did a lot of handshaking and hugging with the Arkansas State players, but now that the personal homecoming portion of the schedule is over, it’s time for him to get down to business.

He wasn’t hired to beat Arkansas State. He was hired to beat Mississippi State as a matter of routine and take aim at the likes of LSU. He’ll get the chance to do both the next two weeks.

Is Auburn ready? For LSU, no. For Mississippi State, maybe. That’s more than you could say about these Tigers a year ago at this time. That’s no cause for celebration, but it is progress.